The Dunedin Marathon chairwoman has had a couple of down years.
The 2020 event was cancelled due to Covid, but last year’s race nearly happened.
Initially it was postponed. But postponed got upgraded to cancelled later in the year.
The pandemic still haunts the event, but Sleeman said Covid complications were small hurdles and not the insurmountable roadblocks they had been previously.
"We are very excited to have it up and running and getting it to this stage", she said.
The Emerson’s-sponsored Dunedin Marathon gets under way on September 11. Entries will remain open right up until the day before.
Interest has been solid. As of yesterday there were just under 1700 entries, which Sleeman was pleased with.
That was down "probably a couple of hundred" entries from 2019. But Covid continues to cast a long shadow. Some people may be reluctant to travel and preparing and competing in a marathon is not that easy if you have had Covid recently.
"We will be very happy if we can get 1800."
Most of those 1800 or so will have entered the half-marathon, 10km run and 5km walk.
The actual marathon had fewer than 200 entries in 2019 and a similar amount are expected this year.
Sleeman has been involved in the event for 30 years and has been chairwoman for the past four years.
"Last year we nearly held it, so we had a bit of a trial run," she joked.
"This year it is more of the same, really, and we are just refining a few things.
"In some ways it was nice for the committee to have that break in 2020, because we have the same team doing the same thing year after year.
"But we will come back refreshed, excited and invigorated."
About 700 competitors from last year transferred their entry to this year and about 500 of them have taken that up.
Jonah Smith and Mel Aitken won the men’s and women’s marathon respectively in 2019.
The best time (2hr 19min 17 sec) for the men’s marathon has been held by Samuel Wreford since 2010, while the women’s best time has stood since 1992, when Bernie Portenski recorded 2hr 46min 4sec.
